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First opinion of Roberts Court is a win for a criminal defendant! On habeas!
Thanks to a tip from my colleague, I discovered that the very first official opinion from the Roberts Court was handed down today in Dye v. Hofbauer, No. 04-8384 (S. Ct. Oct. 11, 2005) (available here). Criminal defendants will surely hope this decision is a sign of things to come: in Dye, the Supreme Court in a brief per curiam opinion grants review and summarily reverses a Sixth Circuit panel decision to deny habeas relief and thereby reinstates the federal habeas petition of a Michigan man convicted of murder in state court.
The procedural particulars of Dye are complicated, but this summary reversal ultimately reveals some real ugliness in the way the Sixth Circuit handled this habeas petition (and perhaps others) . Dye also raises interesting questions about Chief Judge Roberts' involvement in the decision. My (uniformed) guess is that the decision in Dye might have been (tentatively) reached in a conference led by Justice Stevens before CJ Roberts officially joined the Court last Monday. But, notably, the per curiam Dye opinion does not have any notation indicating that the Chief did not participate.
So, when playing the "law nerd" version of Trivial Pursuit, remember that the question "Who prevailed in the first written decision of the Roberts Court?," should be answered "convicted murderer Paul Allen Dye."
Kathianne said:http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=04-8384
To help clarify, for those of us that have trouble reading:
http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2005/10/first_opinion_o.html
GunnyL said:What I would ask as it pertains to questioning WHO exactly rendered the decision is: was it the correct decision according to the US Constitution?
The motion to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition
for certiorari are granted. The judgment of the Courtof Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered.
That's my guess...But, Dunno..Dye also raises interesting questions about Chief Judge Roberts' involvement in the decision. My (uniformed) guess is that the decision in Dye might have been (tentatively) reached in a conference led by Justice Stevens before CJ Roberts officially joined the Court last Monday.
